ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION ISSUE INCLUDED IN KNESSET AGENDA
ArmInfo
2010-04-29 11:22:00
ArmInfo. As a result of April 28 voting, with 12 pros and 8 cons
the Israeli Knesset has pushed the Armenian Genocide issue into the
parliament agenda, IzRus portal reported.
In his speech the leader of the Israeli "Meretz" Party Haim Oron, who
initiated the voting, tried to prevent the arguments of his opponents.
According to him, he was asked why he raised this topic. Let the
history clarify the facts. Let everything halt down by itself. He said
the point is that they do not come out with some specific statement,
do not discuss the issue of compensations or recovery of someone’s
rights. According to him, major topics are discussed directly with
Turkey and Armenia. "It is appropriate that the Israeli Knesset,
which represents the Jewish people, recognize the Armenian genocide,"
Oron said. According to him, the Armenian people need for Knesset to
be among the parliaments which recognized the Armenian Genocide.
According to Haim Oron, some of his opponents say he allegedly
"belittles the historical significance of the Holocaust" by his calls
to recognize the Armenian Genocide. However, Oron thinks that thus
he enhances its significance. The Holocaust of the Jewish people is
one-of-a-kind. Therefore, he said, they have no right to turn a blind
eye to massacre of another people and must not stand off hiding behind
some other interests.
During the voting, Oron was supported by parliamentarians from Meretz
party, former journalist from "Jewish House" and Arab MPs. The main
opponents were parliamentarians from Israel is Our Home party headed
by Foreign Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman.
When commenting on this information, member of RPA Council, expert on
Armenian-Israeli relations Artak Grigoryan said that the fact that the
issue was included in Knesset’s agenda was not a surprise, however,
it will be unexpected if the Israeli Parliament actually discussed
the Armenian Genocide issue. According to him, the fact that there
were more pro-Armenian speeches during the debates unlike the previous
years, is a progress. A. Grigoryan also said that the Armenian party
has difficulties in lobbying of its interests in Israel. He thinks this
is first of all connected with the fact that Tel- Aviv has no Armenian
Embassy. Along with it, he attached importance to development of the
Armenian-Israeli relations. According to A. Grigoryan, cooperation
with Israel may be just of benefit for Armenia.